The growing animosity between City Councilman Carl DeMaio and Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher boiled over in the first televised debate of the San Diego mayor’s race when DeMaio asked Fletcher if he was under an ethics investigation.

A complaint was filed against Fletcher last month and dismissed Wednesday by the San Diego Ethics Commission for insufficient evidence.

The KPBS/KGTV debate also included District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and Rep. Bob Filner. With 47 days until the primary, the candidates sparred over public employee pensions and the proposed convention center expansion. The DeMaio-Fletcher feud took center stage when the candidates were given the opportunity to ask questions of each other.

DeMaio, a Republican who has been criticized frequently by Fletcher throughout the campaign, touted his push for transparency at City Hall and then turned to Fletcher.

“Are you currently under investigation for an ethics violation and, if so, what is the nature of the investigation and the violation you are alleged to have conducted?” DeMaio said.

Fletcher responded: “As usual, Carl, your facts are off. We’re not under any investigation by the Ethics Commission. But I do find it ironic that you would ask a question about transparency given, after you were fined by that Ethics Commission for breaking campaign-finance laws, you tried to defund them.”

Fletcher recently left the Republican Party to run as an independent.

At issue is a complaint filed March 22 with the Ethics Commission that accused Fletcher of spending $1,200 from his Assembly officeholder account for media monitoring by TVEyes Inc., a company that provides video clips for politicians and candidates.

The complaint, which the DeMaio campaign released with the accuser’s name redacted, alleged Fletcher violated the law because he used those clips for his mayoral bid but didn’t pay for them out of his campaign account.

The Ethics Commission sent Fletcher a letter Wednesday notifying him of the allegation and that the panel had dismissed the complaint, which it said was “essentially based on speculation.”

The commission levied a $1,500 fine against DeMaio in 2008 because a fundraising solicitation for his council candidacy was sent to city workers, a practice that’s banned to keep employees from feeling pressured. Two months later, he proposed slashing the commission’s $1 million budget by 30 percent.

Matt David, Fletcher’s senior campaign adviser, accused DeMaio of “cooking up the complaint” as a way to distract and deceive voters. The campaign also released a Feb. 2 letter from the state Fair Political Practices Commission that cleared Fletcher of an allegation that he used money from his Assembly campaign account on his mayoral bid. The FPPC said Fletcher was “in substantial compliance” with state law.

Ryan Clumpner, DeMaio’s campaign manager, said Fletcher still needs to explain how he spent more than $230,000 from his Assembly account last year when he knew he was going to run for mayor and why he needed to spend $50,000 on legal fees.

“Assemblyman Fletcher continues to display a pattern of unethical behavior when it comes to corporate contributions that he accepts into his state political accounts, regardless of whether he has avoided legal consequence so far,” Clumpner said.